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New study: 30 minutes of exercise is NOT enough

Remember when you first heard from the American Heart Association that 30 minutes of moderate exercise is all you need to stay healthy? Did you think, that doesn’t really sound like it would do anything but, hell, they’re the experts.

New study finds 30 minutes of exercise, as recommended by the American Heart Association, may be too little to really help you escape a heart attack. (Photo: Courtesy of Creative Commons)

Well, you were right.

A new study in the journal Circulation says 30 minutes of exercise is probably not doing squat – or certainly not enough to save you from a heart attack.

Researchers reviewed 12 studies involving 370,460 men and women with varying levels of physical activity, the Washington Post reports. Over a mean follow-up time of 15 years, this group experienced 20,203 heart failure events. Each of the participants self-reported their daily activities, allowing the team to estimate the amount of exercise they were doing.

Those who followed the 30-minutes-a-day guideline issued by the American Heart Association had modest reductions of heart failure at best. But those who exercised twice and four times as much had substantial reduction – 20 to 35 percent – respectively.

The study also found that physical activity and heart failure may be “dose-dependent,” meaning that higher levels of physical activity appeared to be linked to a lower risk of heart failure. And that finding held for all age groups.

Researchers said walking 30 minutes a day may not be enough for a middle-aged person with hypertension. Those with diabetes or a history of heart failure also would benefit from talking with their doctors about increased physical activity.